By Earl Morgan/For The Jersey Journal
In Jersey City, the dirty little secret is that there are actually two schools systems; the one that exists north of Montgomery Street and the other south of that educational demarcation.
For decades, schools south of Montgomery Street to a large extent lacked, and still lack, the resources of those north of Montgomery. For many years there were few if any gifted and talented or accelerated enrichment programs in schools south of Montgomery. In their stead was a surfeit of special education and Title I classes.

North of Montgomery, teachers would routinely order needed supplies or items that their colleagues would have to purchase themselves.
If the state wants these troubled schools systems to succeed, they're not going to make that happen in the 51/2-hour school day. They will have to go deep into the weeds, to where students in low-performing schools live. It will take time to unravel the Gordian knot of turmoil, anxiety and despair these young people grapple with every minute of every day of their lives.
Ride the Amtrak past Camden and you'll see something resembling the aftermath of a disaster movie with one dilapidated and abandoned neighborhood and building after another. If you want to improve education, it's not charter schools or a few "vouchers" used to transfer a handful of students to more affluent districts. It's the soul destroying poverty that must be confronted in Jersey City, Paterson, Newark and Camden. That's where you need to start.